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Home , Andrea Mantegna, Illustrious Highness

Letter of Ludovico Gonzaga to Andrea Mantegna, 15 April 14581 wait another six months in order to finish the work for the Reverend Ludovico Gonzaga’s desire to be in the lead among princely patrons inspired protonotary of and dispatch the rest of your business, we are very him to lure Mantegna from to be his resident . He had already made overtures in the previous year, though Mantegna was slow to content, and if these six months are not enough for you, take seven or commit himself while still working on the famous altarpiece of San Zeno, Verona, eight, so that you can finish everything you have begun and come here for the Protonotary Gregorio Correr. The terms offered were certainly generous: 180 ducats a year was a considerable salary to accompany the other perquisites. with your mind at rest. Two or three months are not going to make any It is not clear, however, whether on acceptance Mantegna protected himself by a formal contract; the following letter suggests he did not. He finally arrived in the difference to us provided that we have the certainty from you that when summer of 1459; his mind may have been made up by the Congress held in the time comes you will not fail to enter our service, and if you come next that year (the same event which brought Alberti to the Gonzaga court), with its opportunities of further patronage. January you would still be in good time. We deeply beg that by that time

without fail you will want to come, as we hope. Have no doubt that if our To the painter Andrea Mantegna offer seems little to you and if you are not content and inform us, we shall Our most esteemed friend: seek in every way to satisfy your desire, because as we have written to Messer Luca Tagliapietra has returned to us and has described on you on other occasions, if you come as we hope and bear yourself in this your behalf how great is your desire, and how you persevere in your manner, we shall make certain that you will find this arrangement seems original intention, to enter our service. It pleases us greatly to know this only the least of the rewards you will receive from us. And although other and we received it gladly; and so that you may know at once our good will people may have told you otherwise, we by the of God have never towards you we advise you that our own intention is to reserve for you in yet broken our promise, and as you are young you will be able to prove good faith everything which we have promised you in our letter at other this for yourself; we shall show you who tells the truth, them or us, and times, and still more; that is to say, 15 ducats a month, the provision of whether deeds correspond to words. But this is our hope: that every day rooms where you can live with your family, enough food each year to you will rest more happy and satisfied for having been brought into our feed six, and enough firewood for your use. Do not have the slightest service. We wanted to write you this letter to assure you that we have the doubt about all this; and so that you may not incur any expense in same disposition towards you as always, waiting to hear from you the bringing your family here, we are happy to promise that at the time you precise time when you can move to us with your household. Nor is there want to come we shall send down a small ship at our expense to move you any need for you to take the trouble to come here, as Maestro Luca and your household and bring you here so that it will not cost you wanted you to do; for us, it will be quite enough to hear from you of your anything. And because Maestro Luca tells us you would dearly like to intention by letter without your coming, by means of this gentleman of

1 All the letters in this packet are from D.S. Chambers, Patrons and Artsts in the Italian (University of S. Carolina Press, 1971), 116-131. 1 ours who has to ride as far as . We beg you that on his return he know that I have your service in mind, I have spoken to him several times may have your reply to carry here. Farewell. Mantua, 15 April 1458 about this picture. He told me that he was very anxious to serve Your Ladyship, but about the story2 Your Ladyship gave him, words cannot Letter of Federico I Gonzaga to Bona of Savoy, Duchess of , express how badly he has taken it, because he knows Your Ladyship will 20 June 1480 judge it in comparison with the work of Master Andrea [Mantegna], and Lady Duchess of Milan: for this reason he wants to do his best. He said that in the story he cannot Most illustrious , I have received the portrait that devise anything good out of the subject at all, and he takes it as badly as Your Excellency sent me and have done my utmost to make Mantegna one can say, so that I doubt whether he will serve Your Excellency as you make a small reproduction in elegant form. He says this would almost be wish. So if it should seem better to you to allow him to do what he likes, I the work of a miniature-painter, and because he is not accustomed to am most certain that Your Ladyship will be very much better served. painting small figures he would much rather do a , or something Therefore I beg Your Ladyship will be pleased to give me your views, the length of a braccia or a braccia and a half, if it were pleasing to Your because he will not do anything until I hear from you. From Your Most Illustrious . My Lady, if I might know what Your Ladyship Ladyship’s servant Michele Vianello wants me to do, I shall endeavor to satisfy your wish, but usually these painters have a touch of the fantastic and it is advisable to take what they Letter of Isabella d’Este to Michele Vianello, 28 June, 1501 offer one; but if Your Ladyship is not served as quickly as you wished, I Messer Michele beseech you to excuse me; in your good grace, etc. Mantua, 20 June 1480 If is so unwilling to do this story as you write, we are content to leave the subject to his judgement, so long as he paints Letter of Michele Vianello to Isabella d’Este, 25 June, 1501 some ancient story or fable with a beautiful meaning. We should be very [Michele Vianello was one of Isabella d’Este’s agents who negotiated glad if you would urge him to make a start on this work, so that we have it with artists on her behalf.] within the time he has estimated, and sooner if possible. The size of the My most illustrious Lady picture has not been altered since you were here and saw the place where Today I have received your letter from Ziprian, Your Excellency’s it was to go in the studio. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side I am sending courier, and from the same I received 25 ducats to give Giovanni Bellini, you the measurements again, and Gian Cristoforo our sculptor will write who is at his villa. He will be back at his house here, they tell me, within to you about this. Mantua, 28 June 1501 five days. I will be with him immediately, and that Your Excellency may 2 That is, Isabella had proposed a fable or scene that she wanted illustrated. 2 Ladyship wished a St John the Baptist to appear in the scene. He replied Letter of Isabella d’Este to Michele Vianello, 15 September 1502 that he was happy to serve Your Excellency, but that the said saint seemed Messer Michele out of place in this Nativity, and that if it pleases Your illustrious You may remember that many months ago we gave Giovanni Bellini Ladyship he will do a work with the infant Christ and St John the Baptist a commission to paint a picture for the decoration of our studio, and when and something in the background with other fantasies which would be it ought to have been finished we found it was not yet begun. Since it much better. So we left it at that: if this pleases Your Ladyship please let seemed clear that we should never obtain what we desired, we told him to me know, because I will do whatever Your Ladyship commands. As to abandon the work, and give you back the 25 ducats which we had sent the price, he agreed to take 50 ducats, and anything more which may seem him before, but now he begs us to leave him the work and promises to fair to Your Excellency. So I ordered the canvas to be primed and he finish it soon. As till now he has given us nothing but words, we beg that promised to begin very soon. you will tell him in our name that we no longer care to have the picture, but that if instead he would paint a Nativity, we should be well content, as Letter of Isabella d’Este to Michele Vianello, 12 November 1502 long as he does not keep us waiting any longer, and will count the 25 Messer Michele ducats which he has already received as half payment. This, it appears to As Bellini is resolved on doing a picture of the Madonna and Child us, is really more than he deserves, but we are content to leave this to your and St John the Baptist in place of the Nativity scene, I should be glad if judgement. We want this Nativity to contain the Madonna and Our Lord he would also include a St. Jerome with the other subjects which occur to God and St Joseph, together with a St John the Baptist and the [usual] him; and about the price of 50 ducats we are content, but above all urge animals. If he refuses to agree to this, you will ask him to return the 25 him to serve us quickly and well. ducats, and if he will not give back the money you will take proceedings.

Letter of Michele Vianello to Isabella d’Este, 3 November 1502 Most illustrious and excellent Lady I have just received a letter from Your Ladyship in which you tell me about the picture by Giovanni Bellini. I have had the measurements of the picture from Messer Battista Scola and I at once went to find him and tell him Your Ladyship’s wish about the Nativity scene, and that Your

3 Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Sant’Angelo, as well as many other things which we now see in Architects (1550), Preface3 ruins. Now, although the Christian religion did not act thus from any hatred for talent, but only in order to condemn and overthrow Vasari was himself a painter and architect, and in 1550, he the heathen gods, yet the utter ruin of these honourable professions, published a voluminous series of biographies of artists, starting which entirely lost their form, was nonetheless entirely due to this with Cimabue (c. 1240-c.1302) and continuing up to his own time. burning zeal… [He discusses the ancient origins of and painting.] ...From such beginnings design and a general improvement in But we will now pass over these matters, which are too vague the arts began to make headway in , as in the year 1016 on account of their antiquity, and we will proceed to deal with when the Pisans began to erect their Duomo…As the men of the clearer questions, namely, the rise of the arts to , their age were not accustomed to see any excellence or greater perfection decline and their restoration or rather renaissance, and here we than the things thus produced, they greatly admired them, and stand on much firmer ground. The practice of the arts began late in considered them to be the type of perfection, barbarous as they …But although the arts of painting and sculpture continued to were. Yet some rising spirits, aided by some quality in the air of flourish until the death of the last of the twelve Caesars, yet they did certain places, so far purged themselves of this crude that in not maintain that perfection and excellence which had characterised 1250 Heaven took compassion on the fine minds that the Tuscan them before, as we see by the buildings of the time under successive soil was producing every day, and directed them to the original emperors. The arts declined steadily from day to day, until at length forms. For although the preceding generations had before them the by a gradual process they entirely lost all perfection of design. Clear remains of arches, colossi, statues, pillars or carved stone columns testimony to this is afforded by the works in sculpture and which were left after the plunder, ruin and fire which Rome had architecture produced in Rome in the time of Constantine, notably passed through, yet they could never make use of them or derive in the made for him by the Roman people at the any profit from them until the period named. Those who came after Colosseum, where we see, that for lack of good masters not only were able to distinguish the good from the bad, and abandoning the did they make use of marble reliefs carved in the time of Trajan, but old style they began to copy the ancients with all ardour and also of spoils brought to Rome from various places… industry….I wish to be of service to the artists of our own day, by Besides all this, in order to build churches for the use of the showing them how a small beginning leads to the highest elevation, Christians, not only were the most honoured temples of the idols and how from so noble a situation, it is possible to fall to utterest destroyed, but in order to ennoble and decorate S. Pietro [Paolo] ruin, and consequently, how these arts resemble nature as shown in with more ornaments than it then possessed, they took away the our human bodies; and have their birth, growth, age and death, and I stone columns from the mold of Hadrian, now the castle of hope by this means they will be enabled more easily to recognise the progress of the renaissance of the arts, and the perfection to 3 Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects transl. Gaston De Vere (, 1550). Accessed via the online edition adapted by which they have attained in our own time. Adrienne DeAngelis; http://members.efn.org/~acd/vite/VasariLives.html 4